Senators still at impasse over reauthorizing Patriot Act

Sixteen provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire Dec. 31.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite last-minute negotiations, senators failed Wednesday to reach an agreement to reauthorize the expiring portions of the USA Patriot Act as they continued to try to wrap up their legislative year.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Wednesday he was holding talks with some of the senators who were filibustering the anti-terrorism law, and early in the day he said chances of a deal were "brighter in the last half-hour than they've been for six days."
But no deal had been reached by nightfall, and lawmakers milled around the Senate chamber as they awaited word on what would happen with the chamber's last pieces of legislation.
House-Senate compromise extending 16 expiring provisions of the Patriot Act has been stuck in the Senate for the past week because of a Democratic-led filibuster. Opponents say they want more safeguards in the legislation.
The legislation's supporters, including Specter, have argued that the measure is the best they could come up with in negotiations with the Republican-controlled House.
Without some sort of compromise, the 16 provisions expire Dec. 31. Officials will still be able to use those powers, which includes the tapping of multiple telephones and computers, on investigations that began in 2005.
Specter said he is trying to broker a deal that would allow the Senate to pass the current legislation "on my commitment to take up issues that they are so worried about. We'd have hearings early next year and consider the amendments, no commitment as to passage, but give consideration to that so we don't have the Patriot Act lapse, since it's important to America."
Fierce lobbying
President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Republican congressional leaders have lobbied fiercely to get the Patriot Act compromise passed by the Senate. The House passed the compromise last week.
"The senators obstructing the Patriot Act need to understand that the expiration of this vital law will endanger America and will leave us in a weaker position in the fight against brutal killers," Bush said at the White House.
The bill's opponents said Wednesday that they had enough signatures in the Senate to pass a three-month extension of the Patriot Act.
Eight Republicans joined with 44 Democrats in the letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asking him to bring up their bill to extend the Patriot Act for 90 days to allow for continued negotiations.
But Frist has shown no interest in bringing up a short-term Patriot Act extension, saying he wants a vote on the House-Senate compromise. "I'm very hopeful that over the course of the day that bill can be addressed, that we do get an up-or-down vote," he said.